The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-06-18

publication of the Queens journals
for all the world to laugh at, and now
the publication of her daughters pri-
vate letters for it to shrink from-if
there is any sense of delicacy left in it,
and we have surely an incompatibility
which it is hard to account for.
Imagine King Solomon publishing
his journal, and telling all the world
what he had for dinner-or the Queen
of Sheba, giving an inventory of her
wardrobe to the populace of that far-off
time 1t is difficult even for us to
think Of Cleopatra stating the price of
the pearl she dissolved in the wine, or
giving the love letters she wrote Mark
Antony to reporter !; yet who knows
what she might have done-had she
fallen upon these degenerate days.
The growing snobbery of our coun-
trymen is exemplified anew every time
a scion of foreign nobility lands upon
our shores. How we formerly satirized
the English reverence for rank, and
burlesqued those who bent the plant
hinges of their knees, that thrift might
follow fawning. How English mann
mas were caricatured for trying to sell
their fair young daughters to old worm
out rooes whose loathsomeness was lost
sight of in the glare of their coronets;
and how astonished we were that young
girls could be made to sacrifice their
lives to these ancient debauchees. But
how is it now? Is there not regular
trade kept up between Europe and
America by which heiresses are sold
for titles, and so much ready money is
paid for so much blue blood ? Such at
least is the common report and | think
few conversant with our most fashion
able society would venture to deny it.
In certain circles girls are brought up,
whose highest ambition it is to marry
foreign nobleman-even of the lowest
grade, if she can secure no other. And
the abasement Of multitudes Of Amer
lean travellers and residents abroad, be-
fore the aristocracies of Europe, is get
ting to be matter of worldwide COM
ment, and bringing US to shame before
the eyes of the whole civilized world.
Where is the self-respect of our fore
fathers What has become of the
foundation principles of the Republic ?
Where is the sturdy Independence of
former generation of great Americans
Have we any celebrated literary men
now who could be trusted to mingle in
the highest circles abroad, with the
simplicity, the dignity, the self-respect,
which characterized Franklin, and EN-
erson, and Hawthorne Would even
Lowell write now to friend who ling
cred too long in Europe:
Come back Not ours the Old Worlds good,
The Old Worlds Ill, thank God, not ours;
But here far better understood.
The days enforce our native mood,
And challenge all our maDlier powers.
Kindlier to me the place of birth
That first my tottering footsteps trod;
There may be fairer spots of earth,
But all their glories are not worth
The virtue of the native sod.''
Too much our younger literary men
are disposed to live abroad, to see life
through European glasses, and to be
content with the lowest places at the
tables Of the great beyond the sea. The
growing spirit of snobbishness in this
country has not left them untouched.
Literary men are still looked upon as
interiors in England, and however dis
tinguished, must sit below the lords
however Insignificant the lords may be
yet there are not lacking many Amer
leans who notoriously seek thus to be
snubbed, and are contented to take the
lowest places, with Thum-and-strum,
the musician, and Splash-and-da dash, the
painter-fOr artists of all kinds are
classed together there, and relegated to
the inferior places, as a rule. In few
good houses, Carlyle got to be looked
upon as an equal, perhaps, but Mrs.
Carlyle often had cause to complain of
the treatment she received and Dick
ems mingled very little with the great,
not at all relishing the role he was ex-
pected to play there. Thackeray con-
fessed himself something of snob, yet
his blood used to boil at times, when
he was suddenly deserted in the street
by friend who saw Duke coming
their way. If their own most distin-
guished men of letters have to eat SO
much humble pie, what must we think
of the treatment which would naturally
be accorded to second rate American
writers in the same circles
But the genuine American to-day
will swallow it all-yes, delight in it
and even proclaim his abasement, as
Boswell proclaimed the cuts and thrusts
he experienced at the hands of john
son. And fine ladies will crowd around
a prohigate Duke in New York draw
ing-room, until he asks in disgust,
"Why should these daughters of cob
blers be so anxious to see nobleman?'
Why, indeed? Only that human nat
ure is much the same the world over.
And funkeyism is not confined to aris-